No, I'm not talking about parties, having friends just next door, being able to do w/e the fuck because you're out on your own. Sure those things DO happen but so many times I see people who are about to embark on their new University Dorm life overlook all the variety of other things that come with the package. They just think about the prospect of being out on their own and amongst their friends all the time and get crazed about that. I've lived in dorm for almost two years now and dorm life is not as awesome as Hollywood movies make it out to be.
You truly don't know what you have until you've lost it... that is, home life. Even living in your own house by yourself is a pretty different experience from dorm life. Depending on your age, family situation, and/or parents' parenting style, the following will vary but you'll get the general gist of it. First of all is just the fact of not having your family there with you. Some people have absolutely no problem with this... and to be honest, I didn't think I'd have that much of an issue with it either. I've never been that close with my family yet being away from them sucks. I miss them all so much, not even for the things they do for me but just their presence. It's actually made me closer to my parents as we started to value each other more.
That's not to say that I don't miss the things my parents did for me. My mom did the laundry, made all the meals, did baking on the side, and went grocery shopping. I didn't need to worry about doing the dishes all the time (and not having things to eat with if I don't do them) and when I did the laundry, it didn't cost me. If ever I needed anything, it was all there. That sentence didn't exactly come out right... you probably think that I was fed everything on a silver spoon. No, what I mean is if I just bought a salad and brought it home and realized that they forgot the dressing packet for it, I'd have some in the fridge at home. In my dorm? Not so. True story as of 5 minutes ago. Bought salad today so I could have it for my late night snack... opened it a while ago and no dressing.
Living in dorm you get used to just not having certain things because it'd just be too much to all have. I'm not going to have a bottle of salad dressing in my room because I might need it one day. As you get more and more used to these small little incidents piling up you learn to kind of make do with what you have. Improvisation, if you know what I mean. I just had my salad with a strawberry and banana fruit smoothie for dressing. Strange, but again, improv. (It actually tasted okay) Another instance of something like this is when I was cooking in my room. I was making a Korean soup called kimchi gijae and then realized I needed sugar but had none. Without the sugar the soup was a bit lacking. So what do you use for sugar substitute? Coka cola of course. The chair they provided here is just a school-type plastic chair. It's too high when I sit on it and triggers my restless leg syndrome which exhausts my legs. Can't really go out and get a new chair, so what do I do? Put a cardboard box under my desk as a foot rest so my feet can lie flat. Out of cutlery/cups? Use and reuse plastic ones. Salvage plastic bowls from microwave dinners. Use and, yes, reuse paper plates. List goes on and on.
The above kind of sounded like I'm complaining, but I'm really not. I'm just saying I never foresaw these little circumstances that would come up as a result of being a single person living in a room only momentarily (8 months). Things would, indeed, be a lot different if I was a single person living in a room permanently... or even for 2 years straight. But living in a room for 8 months, moving out, then moving into a different room after 4 months home to live there for just another 8 months... rinse and repeat; it's... different, to say the least. There are just so many things I don't and/or can't buy because of this circumstance. Not to mention not having a car makes everything a pain in the ass. Even if I did have enough money for a car and owned one, how in the world would I manage it living in Kingston, Ontario for 8 months, then for 4 months in Vancouver, British Columbia. Where would I park it? Where would I put so many of those little things that I lack right now? I don't really think a lot of people pre-dorm life ever really think about these tiny things. I know I sure didn't.
This post kind of went off the rails of what I originally wanted to include... but I think I'll just stop here for today as it's 2:09 am and I am tired!
